Do you need to surrender?
Those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest have had some lessons in surrender lately. Where I live, we have had over 12” of snow in the last two days and there is a new storm on its way with even more snow. Because we don’t get a lot of snow, things get pretty crazy here when it does snow. Not only do many people not know how to drive in snow, we don’t have great snow removal equipment. Things can, and do, get pretty messy.
When it snows this heavily, it’s a chance to practice surrender. I can’t stop the snow. Some of the limbs on my big pine and cedar trees have gotten so heavy with snow that they are falling – and these are big branches. Today one fell and broke a wonderful plaque I have had on a tree for the past 15 years. As I looked at my beloved plaque and then at all the snow continuing to fall, I realized this is a time for surrender.
Most of us are real go-getter types of people. We set goals and go after them. We want to do bigger and better things all the time. It’s our culture. What isn’t so much a part of our culture, is the idea that some things are out of our control. There are times when we really can’t do what we want or have what we want when we want it. Sometimes bigger forces are at work and our job is to do our best and then surrender the rest.
There is a fine line between surrender and giving up. Giving up comes from a place of hopelessness. Surrender comes from a place of wise strength. When we surrender it isn’t because we don’t think anything further can be done about a situation. We surrender because we realize our part of the doing is over and we need to turn the rest of it over to God, Higher Forces, the Universe– whatever term works for us.
Our electric power went out last night. I called the electric company to report the outage. There was a recorded message saying the power would be out for quite awhile as some electrical lines were down and on fire in a neighboring area. I could have been upset and ranted and raved about it since it is quite cold. Even with a woodstove, being without power in this weather is not a great thing.
Instead, I surrendered to the situation, put another log in the fireplace, grabbed a blanket to put around myself and took a snooze in an easy chair. The power was back on within an hour and all was well.
Is there somewhere in your life that you have been pushing and pulling and trying to make something happen – all to no avail? Have you done your best? Have you done everything you know how to do and of which you are capable of doing? If your answer is yes, then it is time to surrender.
Let go of the situation. Turn it over to higher and wiser forces than yourself. Focus on something else for awhile and trust that the situation with resolve itself or that you will be guided to another step you can’t yet see.
We really are guided and protected. It is safe to surrender. Sometimes we’re given situations just for the purpose of teaching us this.
